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BBC excludes Israel, CNN fabricates, Christian Zionists lobby +++

What Others Are Saying. The Week In Review

BBC report conceals Israel’s part in Kenya’s forensic team

BBC, UK: Kenya’s investigation into a bloody siege by Islamist militants in Nairobi has been joined by experts from the US, UK, Germany, Canada and Interpol. Forensic experts are combing the Westgate shopping complex for DNA, fingerprints and ballistic clues, said Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku.

CNN Fabricates Iranian President’s Remarks about Holocaust

Fars News Agency, Iran: American news channel CNN fabricated the remarks made by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in response to the network’s question about the Holocaust. The CNN aired its interview with Rouhani on Tuesday but the news channel added to or changed parts of his remarks when Christiane Amanpour asked him about the Holocaust. Here is the exact English translation of President Rouhani’s remarks:

“I have said before that I am not a historian and historians should specify, state and explain the aspects of historical events, but generally we fully condemn any kind of crime committed against humanity throughout the history, including the crime committed by the Nazis both against the Jews and non-Jews, the same way that if today any crime is committed against any nation or any religion or any people or any belief, we condemn that crime and genocide. Therefore, what the Nazis did is condemned, (but) the aspects that you talk about, clarification of these aspects is a duty of the historians and researchers, I am not a history scholar.”

AKI, Italy: The Syrian government possesses non-chemical weapons that are so sophisticated they they could “blind” neighbouring Israel, authoritarian president Bashar al-Assad was cited as saying on Thursday. “During the 1980s, we manufactured chemical weapons as a deterrent to nuclear-armed Israel,” Assad told al-Akhbar daily. “Now these are no longer a deterrent. Today, we have more important and sophisticated weapons capable of blinding Israel in an instant,” he claimed. The real objective of the United States and its allies is not Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal but to alter the regional balance of power and protect Israel, Assad argued. Syria’s decision to hand over its chemical weapons to the international community to be destroyed is has caused Washington and other capitals “embarrassment” he stated. “Now the ball is in their court,” Assad said, adding that western powers would save Syria considerable funds by collecting and destroying its chemical arms. “We have thousands of tonnes of chemical weapons, which are a burden for us. Destroying them would cost us a huge amount of money and time.”

The Christian Zionists Lobby Has Returned

Palestine Chronicle: Jerusalemites have no doubt witnessed an increased Christian Zionist presence on the streets in the last few days. Indeed, more than 6,000 Christian Zionists have returned to Israel for their annul “Feast of Tabernacles Conference.” This is the largest non-Jewish and non-Islamic conference in Jerusalem, and is organized by the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem (ICEJ). These ICEJ Christian Zionists have descended upon Jerusalem from over 60 international states. They follow a foundationally American version of Pentecostalism and Evangelicalism, sects whose missionaries have penetrated the four corners of the Earth to become the fastest growing religious movement in the world. Many Palestinians are familiar with the Christian Zionists’ central prophecies: (1) an imminent return of Christ; (2) the war to end all wars at Tel Megiddo; and (3) the millennial reign of Christ from the Third Temple.

Twin terror strike in Jammu [India] kills 10

Hindustan Times, India: Three terrorists believed to have freshly infiltrated from Pakistan on Thursday stormed a police station and then an army camp in Jammu, killing 10 people, before being shot dead by elite army forces, three days ahead of a dialogue between Indian and Pakistani prime ministers. Director general of police Ashok Prasad said the terrorists wearing army fatigues boarded an auto-rickshaw at gun point from Hariya Chuk graveyard in village Jhandi, barely a kilometer from the international border, and asked the driver Roshan Lal to take them to the army camp at Hiranagar. Unable to locate the camp, the militants first hurled grenades and then stormed the police station – close to the international border with Pakistan – killing four officials. They also gunned down the owner of a PCO nearby.

Nuns, orphans trapped in Maalula, Syria

Arab News, Saudi Arabia: Nearly 40 nuns and orphans are trapped inside a convent in the Syrian Christian town of Maalula, where regime troops are battling rebel forces, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate said Tuesday. The famed town, where residents still speak Aramaic, the language Jesus Christ is thought to have spoken, has been the scene of clashes since earlier this month. “The Mar Takla convent is living through painful days because it is in the middle of the zone where fire is being exchanged, which makes getting supplies difficult and dangerous,” the Damascus-based Patriarchate said in a statement. “The generator has gone out because of the fighting, halting the supply of water to the convent and threatening the lives of those inside,” the statement added. It issued an “urgent appeal” to humanitarian groups to “ensure the necessary supplies to residents of the convent, nuns and orphans who number close 40 people.”

Christians protest in Pakistan streets after mass murder

Church Times, UK:Crosses were held aloft, tires were burned, and roads were blocked in cities across Pakistan this week, as Christians demanded better protection from the government, in the wake of the one of the worst attacks ever on the country’s Christians. Eighty-five people were killed in a suicide bombing at All Saints’, Peshawar, part of the United Church of Pakistan, on Sunday. Victims included 34 women and seven children. More than 100 have been wounded. On Tuesday, the Archbishop of Canterbury described the dead as “martyrs”. Security sources have reported that two suicide bombers carried out the attack as worshipers left the church after the service for refreshments on the lawn outside.

Hamas clarifies Egypt’s threat to Gaza

Shanghai Daily: Ismail Haneya, head of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, said he received assurance from Egypt on Wednesday that Egypt will not cause any harm to the Palestinian coastal enclave. Senior Egyptian security officials told Haneya in a telephone conversation that Egypt will not cause any harm to the people in the Gaza Strip, according to a statement released by the Hamas government. On Tuesday, the Hamas government slammed remarks of Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmi that Egypt may use force against Hamas. Egypt will respond “harshly if we felt that some parties in Hamas or other sides are trying to harm the Egyptian national security,” Fahmi was quoted Tuesday by the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat as saying in an interview at the sideline of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The Hamas government said Fahmi’s words would cause “serious escalation” in regional situation.

Turkish police target medics during Gezi protests: Report

Hürriyet Daily News, Turkey: Turkey’s security forces directly targeted medical facilities and confined spaces while systematically using tear gas as a weapon during the Gezi protests, the Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) organization stated in a report released on Sept. 24. “Police and other law enforcement officials attacked clearly identifiable, independent medical personnel and medical facilities with tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets. Police beat and detained dozens of physicians and other medical personnel for providing emergency medical care to those injured during the demonstrations,” the report from the New York-based NGO stated.

Lebanon issues warrants for Nusra Front members

The Daily Star,Lebanon: Military Investigative Judge Imad al-Zein issued arrest warrants Thursday against four Palestinians accused of belonging to the radical Islamist group Jabhat al-Nusra. The four are accused of belonging to the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, one of the strongest rebel groups fighting in Syria, and operating in Lebanon with the aim of carrying out terrorist attacks, collecting funds and recruiting members for the group. The judge issued one warrant against a Palestinian identified by his initials S.H. and three warrants in absentia against Palestinians identified as H.M. M.M. and A.SH. Several members of Jabhat al-Nusra have been charged in Lebanon courts and some politicians argue that the group has training camps and bases in the country.